Luisa Medrano of Cliffside Park, the alleged ringleader of an international human smuggling ring between the United States and Honduras, asked last week that federal charges of human trafficking and conspiracy against her be dismissed because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deported witnesses with essential information in her defense.
“The government acted to remove them, so they must show why they removed them,” said Henry Mazurek, Medrano’s attorney.
In criminal prosecutions, the government must release any information it discovers that could be beneficial to the defense. Medrano’s defense issued a motion last week, claiming that the government knowingly deported witnesses who made statements that Medrano had nothing to do with the smuggling ring.
According to Mazurek, if the government were shown to have acted in bad faith in deporting the witnesses before Medrano had the opportunity to request their testimony in her defense, the judge would have to dismiss the case.
U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano scheduled a second hearing for June 13, where agents will be asked to testify to their actions, and he ordered that investigators turn over the interview statements of the detainees to the defense.
What’s happening now?
Last July, Medrano, owner of El Paisano Bar and Nightclub on 22nd Street and El Puerto de la Union II on Bergenline Avenue in Union City plus a third bar in Guttenberg, and at least nine other co-conspirators were arrested and brought up on 31 charges, including forced labor and human trafficking, and allegations that the young victims were physically abused, sexually exploited, and kept under constant threats of deportation or harm to their families in Honduras.
Some of the women were as young as 14 years old.
Medrano has been charged specifically with one count of conspiracy to commit forced labor, eight counts of forced labor, one count of alien smuggling, and eight counts of harboring illegal aliens.
The false labor charge alone could condemn her to 20 years in prison.
Federal agents that investigated Medrano’s establishments discovered undocumented young Honduran women working in the bars as prostitutes to pay off $10,000 to $20,000 smuggling fees to get into the U.S.
Medrano’s three establishments were shut down last year.
She had allegedly told agents that the women were just employed as dancers in her establishments and that she rented them apartments but had no further knowledge of their practices outside the bars.
Mazurek told newspapers last week that five of the deportees could testify that Medrano never pressured them into any forced labor and that ICE agents urged them to describe themselves as victims or be deported.
“The motion to dismiss that we filed before Judge Pisano is based on the government deportation of a number of material witness [which were] the women that had been arrested in the apartments last year,” said Mazurek. “The defense conducted its own investigation in Honduras, where we interviewed five of the deported girls [who stated] they were interviewed by ICE agents and informed them that Ms. Medarno had nothing to do with the Honduran smugglers.”
He added, “Judge Pisano had this information [provided by the defense] and has now ordered the government to produce any record about the interviews before they deported them to determine if the government acted in bad faith to remove those witnesses.”
Prosecutors have argued that immigration agents merely carried out their duties after it was determined that the women’s statements were not relevant to the prosecution, and that nothing improper was done.
Public Affairs Officer Michael Drewniak of the U.S. Attorney’s Office told the Reporter last week that he had nothing else to add other than what was already covered in the press.
Officials comment
Former U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said last year, “This was inhumane and sadistic treatment of young women who were kept as virtual slaves.”
“This is a horrible exploitation of women and the most horrible crime you could ever do to another person,” said Mayor Brian Stack last July.
In an unexpected twist, it was also discovered that Medrano made two donations to Stack’s campaign fund totaling approximately $3,500 between 2001 and 2003.
Stack claimed he had no idea Medrano made any such donations because she used her Fairview address, not the addresses of the bars.
“We make it practice of not accepting donations from bar owners or establishments, and we do not accept cash,” Stack told the Reporter last August. “I am upset more than anything that she was able to do this, and I’m upset with myself, but we did the right thing with the money.”
Stack said the accumulated $3,500 was donated to the Battered Women’s Shelter of Hudson County.
Possibility of return
If Pisano does not dismiss the charges, the government said they would do what they could to locate the women and bring them back to testify, but it was highly unlikely they could do so before the September trial date. Unfortunately, the defense has no grounds and the burden to return the women falls on the government.
“We don’t have the ability to subpoena them, [however] the government made representation that they would do [what they could] to get them back but they are not sure,” said Mazurek.
At least 10 of the women picked up from Medrano’s apartments have been paroled as “material witnesses” for the prosecution.
Medrano is free on bail while awaiting trial.